Letter: Atheists pose no threat, are your friends and neighbors

Dec. 18, 2013

Neil McCaffrey’s odd attack on people who don’t believe in deities (Dec. 9) is filled with misconceptions. He states that the “atheist ethos” is a religion, or a “loosely connected cabal of religions.” No. Atheism is merely a lack of belief in a deity.

I suspect McCaffrey is an atheist when it comes to Allah, Buddha, Shiva (Hindu), and countless other “gods” past and present. Why doesn’t he believe in these gods? It’s merely a question of where he was born.

As for atheists’ propensity to “believe in anything,” we are not the ones making unfounded proclamations based on ancient books. Carl Sagan said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” and religion does not provide this evidence.

I agree that atheists should not call their meeting places “churches.” McCaffrey seems threatened by these “churches” but points out that atheists are a distinct minority in America. Where’s the threat?

We atheists are your friends next door. If you need help, we’ll gladly come to your aid. We’re not trying to impress a deity. We’ll do it because we feel a kinship with fellow humans. I am friends with many religious people. It’s a free country, and we don’t have to agree on everything.

Finally, if you’re going to play the founding father card, you have to accept the whole enchilada. Jefferson was called a “howling atheist” for his unorthodox brand of deist Christianity.

Meanwhile, Thomas Paine said, “The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing.”